Obama, lawmakers square off over NSA authority WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration squared off with skeptical lawmakers Tuesday over efforts to terminate the government’s authority to collect phone records of millions of Americans, a proposition that exposed sharp divisions among members of Congress. With a vote nearing on amendments to a $598.3 million bill to fund the military, the White House raised the alarm over a move to end the National Security Agency’s authority under the U...

Lawmaker urges steps to open Japanese markets WASHINGTON (AP) — A House Democratic leader on trade policy on Tuesday said the time is right to press Japan on its closed markets as Japan formally joins the United States and 10 other Asia-Pacific nations in negotiations to create a major new trade bloc. Rep. Sander Levin of Michigan, top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, proposed that the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, talks should link the reduction of U.S. auto tariffs to the ...

FDA cracks down on illegal diabetes remedies WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration is cracking down on more than a dozen companies that market illegal treatments for diabetes, ranging from bogus dietary supplements to prescription drugs sold online without a prescription. All of the products aim to cash in on the country’s diabetes epidemic, which affects nearly 26 million Americans. Regulators worry that consumers who buy such unapproved products could put off getting legit...

Anthony Weiner caught in another sexting scandal NEW YORK (AP) — Anthony Weiner found himself caught in another sexting scandal Tuesday like the one that destroyed his congressional career, but stood side-by-side with his wife to say he won’t drop out of the race for mayor of New York. “This is entirely behind me,” Weiner said at an evening news conference, hours after the gossip website The Dirty posted X-rated text messages and a crotch shot that it said the former congressman exchanged wi...

A year after movie shooting, Colo. seeks healing AURORA, Colo. (AP) — Some recited the names of the dead. Some did good deeds for their neighbors. Some practiced yoga, walked through nature, or simply talked. And two got married. Coloradans embraced ways to heal Saturday as they marked the anniversary of the Aurora movie theater massacre with a city-sponsored “Day of Remembrance.” It was one year ago that a gunman opened fire into a packed midnight screening of the Batman film “The Dark Knig...

Thunderstorm threat a wildcard for Calif. wildfire IDYLLWILD, Calif. (AP) — Firefighters got little help from Mother Nature on Saturday as much-needed rainfall from expected thunderstorms didn’t materialize for a huge wildfire burning in the Southern California mountains near Palm Springs. Fire officials were hopeful the storms, which can also bring wind, lightning and other volatile conditions, would douse some of the flames, but they said there hadn’t been any significant rainfall. Cooler te...

Charges in case of men found held in Texas home HOUSTON (AP) — A 31-year-old man was charged Saturday in connection with the discovery of four malnourished men being held against their will in a dungeon-like Houston home. Walter Renard Jones faces two counts of injury to the elderly. He is being held without bond in the Harris County Jail and set to appear in court Monday. Houston Police Department spokeswoman Jodi Silva said it’s possible additional charges will be filed as the investigati...

No signs Washington to come to Detroit’s rescue WASHINGTON (AP) — During the bleakest days of the Great Recession, Congress agreed in bipartisan votes to bail out two of Detroit’s biggest businesses, General Motors and Chrysler. Today, however, there seems little appetite from either Democrats or Republicans in Washington for a federal rescue of the birthplace of the automobile industry. Detroit now stands as the largest American city ever to file for bankruptcy protection. Such a bailout w...

Obama’s inaugural ambitions meet political reality WASHINGTON (AP) — Six months ago, President Barack Obama stood on the Capitol steps and offered a soaring liberal vision for his second term. Buoyed by re-election, he said the nation must pursue without delay steps to protect children from gun violence, tackle climate change and overhaul fractured immigration laws. But the intervening months have showcased the political limits of Obama’s ambitions. The result has been an uneven and sometimes ...

Woman’s Six Flags roller coaster death probed ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Investigators will try to determine if a woman who died while riding a roller coaster at a Six Flags amusement park in North Texas fell from the ride after some witnesses said she wasn’t properly secured. The accident happened just after 6:30 p.m. Friday at Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington. Park spokeswoman Sharon Parker confirmed that a woman died while riding the Texas Giant roller coaster — dubbed the tallest steel-...

Across US, people rally for ’Justice for Trayvon’ ATLANTA (AP) — One week after a jury found George Zimmerman not guilty in the shooting death of unarmed teen Trayvon Martin, people gathered nationwide Saturday to press for federal civil rights charges against the former neighborhood watch leader, and to call for changes in the nation’s self-defense laws. The Florida case has become a flashpoint in separate but converging national debates over self-defense, guns, and race relations. Zimmerman...

Journalism legend is goneWASHINGTON (AP) — Covering 10 presidents over five decades, Helen Thomas aged into a legend. She was the only reporter with her name inscribed on a chair in the White House briefing room — her own front row seat to history. Starting as a copy girl in 1943, when women were considered unfit for serious reporting, Thomas rose to bureau chief. Working at a news service, where writers expect obscurity, she became one of journalism’s most recognized...

Obama’s remarks on race resonate with many MIAMI (AP) — When President Barack Obama told the nation on Friday that slain black teenager Trayvon Martin could have been him 35 years ago, many black Americans across the nation nodded their head in silent understanding. Like the president, they too have seen people walk across the street and lock their car doors as they got near. They, too, know what it’s like to be followed while shopping in a department store. In many ways, it was the fr...

Coroner: Teen in Asiana crash killed by vehicle SAN MATEO, Calif. (AP) — As the wreckage of Asiana Flight 214 burned, Ye Meng Yuan was lying on the ground just 30 feet away, buried by the firefighting foam rescue workers were spraying to douse the flames. No one knows exactly how the 16-year-old Chinese student got to that spot, but officials say one thing is clear now: She somehow survived the crash. And in the chaotic moments that followed — flames devouring the fuselage, those aboard esc...

Boston bomb photos shed light on end of manhunt BOSTON (AP) — After a week of chaos, the suspect in the deadly Boston Marathon bombings emerged from his hiding spot bloodied and seemingly exhausted — the red dot of a sniper’s rifle lighting his forehead. Photos of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev released by a state police officer give a long-awaited glimpse into the end of an episode that kept the city and its suburbs on edge. The images, the first of Tsarnaev from that night in April, were released to B...

Aurora victims honored, gun groups stage protest AURORA, Colo. (AP) — Survivors of mass shootings in Colorado and Connecticut gathered with dozens of supporters Friday in a suburban Denver park to honor those killed in the massacre at an Aurora movie theater almost a year to the day after the attack. Vigil participants read a list of names of those killed in recent gun violence around the nation and talked about the pain of losing loved ones as they called for strict federal gun control laws...

Obama says Martin ’could have been me’ years ago WASHINGTON (AP) — In a rare and public reflection on race, President Barack Obama called on the nation Friday to do some soul searching over the death of Trayvon Martin and the acquittal of his shooter, saying the slain black teenager “could have been me 35 years ago.” Empathizing with the pain of many black Americans, Obama said the case conjured up a hard history of racial injustice “that doesn’t go away.” Obama’s personal comments, in a sur...

House votes to replace ’No Child’ education law WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans voted Friday to dismantle the troubled No Child Left Behind law for evaluating America’s students and schools, saying states and local school districts rather than Washington should be setting rules for ensuring that kids are getting good educations. The legislation would eliminate federally required testing of students, which has been controversial from the start. But the measure passed with no Democratic s...

Residents worry if bankruptcy will better Detroit DETROIT (AP) — In Detroit, it can take police nearly an hour to respond to a 911 call. Despite razing close to 10,000 vacant houses, three times as many still stand with windows smashed and doors ripped off. At night, many streets and even freeways are dangerously shrouded in darkness because tens of thousands of street lights don’t work. This is Detroit, an insolvent city seeking to find its way through the uncertainty of the largest city in ...

Boston mobster pins a string of killings on Bulger BOSTON (AP) — A feared gangster known as “The Rifleman” detailed for a jury Friday a grisly string of nine murders he says reputed Boston crime boss James “Whitey” Bulger ordered, approved or committed with his own hands, including the strangling of the witness’ own girlfriend. Stephen Flemmi said he set his girlfriend’s killing in motion when he blurted out to her something he shouldn’t have: that he and Bulger were FBI informants. Bulger dec...